Happy birthday to my sweet sister in heaven. Teri should know that she is on our minds and in our hearts even more this birthday that should have been number 68. I miss her coffee calls not FaceTime but audio since she didn’t like seeing herself on the screen. It has been such an emotional eight months since she died alone in a hospital bed with Covid. But today rather than wallowing in the heartbreak of losing her, I am drawn to all the ways she spread love and kindness over so many including me.
Teri always called to check on me when I was on one of my frequent road trips. Just a quick check in to see where I was and how I was doing. She always was there for every sporting event, birthday, or any other special occasion. When a family member needed help she rolled up her sleeves and dug in like she was fiercer than her one hundred and ten pound self would suggest.
I particularly enjoy the memories of our trip to Los Angeles when Natalie was thirteen and Teri was fifty. She and Natalie got their bellybuttons pierced and we got lost in all that crazy LA traffic. We decided that getting lost and wandering around clueless was the part of the trip that brought the most laughter and joy. Teri was my incompetent navigator and I was the overstressed but happy driver. Mom and Natalie sat in the back shaking their heads at our antics. We never found Tom Selleck’s house but we did find a grocery store with a grand piano and bag boys in tuxedos. Teri was so impressed that she knelt in the middle of the store and peed. Yes, there was no way she was making it to the back of that store where the bathroom was. Clean up on aisle three!!
Today I will call her forever love, Allen, and her kids and grandkids. Not to sing happy birthday but to let them know that I am missing her right along with them. What a gift my sister was to our family, her community, and to each of us. It is a day to remember the joy that was Teri and be grateful that we will indeed meet again.
In Him,
Joyful
7-19-21
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